I Sea Wood

Well, after the world's worst travel day, I finally arrived in Ulverston for the first time since the beginning of December. (I note this because there has only been one blog entry since December, as Kevin was left in charge of the blog...) Since I had such a stressful day traveling Sunday/Monday, I decided to stay close to Ulverston on my first day back. On one of my prior trips, Kevin and I visited Birkrigg Stone Circle, which is located near Bardsea, just on the outskirts of town. When we visited the stone circle, we parked in an area that was posted as "Sea Wood". When I did a little research online, I found out that Sea Wood is a 58 acrea area of woods located along the sea (hence the name) owned by Woodland Trust. One thing you don't see a lot of in England is heavily wooded areas, so I decided the woods would be interesting to visit.

Also appealing to my love of British History, the property was once owned by Lady Jane Grey who, if memory serves me correctly, was England's shortest reigning Queen. She managed to last 9 days as Queen before being beheaded in 1554. Even in his death, Henry VIII was responsible for the beheading of another young Queen. Jane Grey was the great-niece of Henry VIII, and was convinced by her family to assume the throne after Henry's only son, Edward, died. Her reign lasted 9 short days, all of which she was confined to the Tower of London before she was executed due to her father's involvement in the Wyatt rebellion against Queen Mary. Talk about having bad parents!

Sea Wood is a little over 3 miles from Kevin's flat by way of the Coast Road. Since I am a champion walker and the sun was shining, I decided to head out on foot. The Coast Road is a scenic drive to Barrow along the Morcambe Bay, so the walk along the ocean and past farm land was quite enjoyable.


However, the walk quickly became very horrible when I past a farm that was literally spraying manure on the field. It smelled worse than hockey equipment in a hot car, chicken poop and Roo after she eats peppers combined. I literally almost vomited. However, a pair of bicyclists found my exclamation of "OH Dear Lord, what is that horrible smell!!!" while I started running very amusing. At least I entertained someone...

If you ever see a truck spraying something out the back, RUN!

The walk to Sea Wood takes you past Holy Trinity Church in Bardsea, which I had admired from the road many times and never gotten a chance to photograph.

When I finally arrived at Sea Wood, I was glad that I had made the trek out there. The woods were beautiful and peaceful and I hit the perfect time of year as all the flowers were in bloom. It looked exactly like the kind of place Mumsy would enjoy, and if I lived her all the time, I think I would frequent the area with a book in hand. As I am a world-class nerd, the woods immediately brought to mind Lothlorien as I pictured fair-haired elves.

Instead of walking back the same way, I took part of the Cumbrian Coastal Way, a series of footpaths leading along the coast from Silverdale to Gretna on the Scottish Boarder. The stretch of the Coastal Way from Bardsea to Ulverston is especially pretty as it winds along Morcambe Bay and passes farm land and Conished Priory.

Great men are seldom over-scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire

Saturday arrived, bringing with it sunshine and the most anticipated day of the year – Dickensian Festival.  Ulverston could probably be called the “festival town” since they seem to have some sort of festival every week.  However, their most popular festival is without a doubt Dickensian Festival.  Since I first heard of this festival involving 1850’s style costumes (or fancy dress as they call it here), I knew I had to attend as I love any reason to wear a costume.  I was even more thrilled when I realized that the festival coincided with the arrival of Katie and Cailin, two others who love costume parties as much as I do.

 

The costume shop in town, Inspirations, had a small selection of costumes for rent, but the main source for costumes is through a catalogue that is located at one of the local clothing stores, and has a wide selection of costumes in various sizes.  Since Cailin and Katie are very tiny, we wound up getting their costumes from the catalogue since it had a better selection of dresses in small sizes.  In addition, they had an extensive selection of suits, cravats and top hats for men, so Kevin got his costume (and John’s that he couldn’t use :( ) as well.  My dress I found in the costume shop the last time I was in Ulverston.

 

When I arrived in England two weeks ago, I was greatly dismayed to find a beard on Kevin’s face.  However, the reason for this beard was evident when Kevin shaved authentic mutton chops for the festival.  While I absolutely HATE his beard, I actually love the mutton chops.  I’m trying to convince him to keep them for Christmas so that all our American family and friends can enjoy them.  So, if you are reading this in the States, make sure to request that he keeps them!

Before

After

Mutton chops completed, we set off with our costumes around 1 pm, walking up Market Street and taking a few pictures before we headed to our friends Fred and Jen’s house for a little party.  As we were heading up the street, we thought the costume aspect of the festival may have been an “embarrass the Americans” prank as we were the only ones in costume.  In addition, every time we tried to take a few pictures, random people kept taking our picture like we were a tourist attraction.  Needless to say, I was excited when we made it to Fred and Jen’s and I saw other people in costume. 

    

About 100 random people have the same pictures

Victorian Pimp?

Jen and Fred not only had a huge spread of delicious food, but the best view of the festival around.  You could see everything going without having to be outside in the cold.  We filled up on some yummy snacks and drinks before we headed outside to take part in the costume parade.

 

   

Cailin and Katie enjoy some non-Victorian Drinks.  Diet coke and a Dickensian please?

 

  Some of the other fantastic costumes

The costume parade was probably the weirdest part of the day.  Everyone in costume meets at the Town Hall and is lead through town by a woman dressed as Queen Victoria and accompanied by the town marching band and a Bag Pipe band.  I absolutely abhor bagpipes and some how we got stuck directly in front of them, which naturally made me very angry.  However, it was fun seeing all the other costumes.  The weird part came when everyone else in town watched the parade and took pictures.

 

Queen Victoria

 

 

 

 

 

If only the Von Schnauzers were here! 

AHH! Bagpipes!

 

After we made a spectacle of ourselves, we went back to Jen and Fred’s to warm up and watch the lights be switched on, after which we went to grab a drink at the Swan.  Overall, a fantastic day!  I hope to be able to come back next year and attend.  This time, I’m making sure John Felty and Doyle get there as well!

Home Sweet Home

We finally arrived back in Ulverston Monday night, after being away since the previous Tuesday. Since we had been traveling so much, we decided to take it easy and hang out around Ulverston on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday morning, Mumsy and I went to the grocery store first thing as we needed more milk for Mumsy’s tea and the ingredients for Boeuf Borgignone which Mumsy requested I make. In addition, all of our smoothies were gone. In England, they have these fantastic smoothies called “Innocent Fruit” that are pretty much just pulverized fruit. They are glorious. I personally like the Mango and Lemon Grass smoothie as it tasted just like Mango Lassi, but Mumsy and Don didn’t so they watered it down!

After a trip to the grocery store, I took Mumsy and DOn to my favorite little restaurant in Ulverston – Hot Mango Cafe. Only open for breakfast and lunch, the cafe serves food all locally grown. The owners even own the farm that produces all the bacon and other pork products on the menu. While the regular menu is quite good, I love the specials that they have. This time, I got a BBLT – Bacon, Brie, Lettuce(Rocket in this case) and Tomato Chutney– served at just the right temperature where the Brie was gooey and the ciabatta roll perfectly warm. To be honest, I have no idea what Mumsy and Don had because I was too focused on the gloriousness that was my sandwich. Hot Mango Cafe also has really great tea and desserts so Mumsy and I split a pot of tea and we all got desserts. I got Millionaire shortbread, which I had never heard of before but it was everywhere in the UK. Basically, its shortbread with a layer of caramel and a layer of chocolate. Very delicious. Joy of Baking has a pretty good recipe, which I’ve included below.

SHORTBREAD:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) (170 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

CARAMEL FILLING:

1 - 14 ounce (396 grams) can Dulce de Leche or sweetened condensed milk

CHOCOLATE TOPPING:

6 ounces (170 grams) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Grease with butter (or use a cooking spray) a 9 x 9 inch (23 x 23 cm) pan.

FOR SHORTBREAD: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough just comes together. Press onto the bottom of your greased pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until pale golden in color. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

FOR CARAMEL FILLING: If using Dulce de Leche then simply warm the caramel in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. If using sweetened condensed milk, pour the milk into a heatproof bowl and place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cover and cook, over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 60 to 90 minutes or until the milk has thickened and has turned a caramel color. Remove from heat and beat until smooth. Pour the caramel over the baked shortbread and leave to set.

Note: You can also do this step in a microwave oven. Place the sweetened condensed milk in a large microwaveable bowl and cook on medium power for about 4 minutes, stirring halfway through baking time. Reduce the powder to medium-low and continue to cook for another 8 to 12 minutes, or until the milk has thicken and has turned a light caramel color. Remove from microwave and beat until smooth.

FOR TOPPING: Melt the chocolate and butter either in the microwave oven or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Pour the melted chocolate evenly over the caramel and leave to set. Cut the shortbread into pieces using a sharp knife.

Store the shortbread in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate nice and firm.

Yield: 16 - 2 inch (5 cm) squares

The next day, Mumsy and Don went down the Canal Path again so Don could take pictures. I decided to opt out as my knees were rebelling against all the rainy UK weather. However, I did join them for a jaunt up Hoad Hill after lunch.

Hoad Hill is a big hill right near Kevin’s flat that has a monument to Sir John Barrow, a local naval officer who traveled extensively through China a nd South Africa, and wrote many naval history books, including one about the seizure of the HMS Bounty. Normally, visitors to the top of the Hoad can climb up the monument to Sir Barrow, but currently, the monument is being restored. However, we totally lucked out and got a beautiful sunny day, so the view was quite lovely from the top of the hill.

It’s a Jolly Holiday with Mumsy (and Don)

The mood on Friday quickly turned from jolly (complete with singing of Mary Poppins songs by Mumsy) to depressed when our flight from Bradley to JFK was cancelled due to Thunderstorms in the NY area. With no other options for the night, we had to go back home and try again the next day, this time scheduled for a flight through Atlanta just in case. Since I have never had a flight cancelled on me in my life, I like to blame the minor travel issue on Mumsy and her over-exhuberant singing.

Placing Mumsy under strict orders NOT to sing until we were safely on our way from Atlanta, we made it to Manchester only 22 hours behind schedule. Kevin graciously picked us up at the airport since it was now Sunday - the most cursed rail travel day in England. However, due to the fact that the Ford Fiesta was once again in the shop, we were picked up in style in the crappy Peugot with no radio and only one working seat belt in the back. Packed in like sardines with a wall of luggage surrounding us, we made it to Ulverston just in time for the rain.

Since the one thing Mumsy was most disappointed about when we had to reschedule our flight was not getting tea and shortbread, we immediately took her and Don for a walk down the Canal path to Bay Horse Pub for a Sunday lunch and tea.

Since the last time I walked the Canal, the baby ducks had grown up quite large, and the path was lined with blackberries and little purple flowers.

We left the pub with bellies full of tea, slow cooked lamb shank that fell off the bone (Don and Kevin), fresh beer battered Cod and Chips (me) and Scottish Salmon in an herb cream sauce (Mumsy).

Tomorrow is the much anticipated Steeplechase. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a hat. Kevin has also told me several times that it is NOT a dressy affair. In any case, I plan on paying homage to Eliza Doolittle.

Around Town

As I have been out doing something every day since I arrived, I thought I would spend the day wandering around Ulverston and catching up on some schoolwork. I set out for the World Peace Cafe which is about 5 minutes walk from Kevin's flat and had a pot of Red Bush tea (this is Tetley UK's version of Roiboos tea that they grow on their tea plantation in SA) figuring I would get a mug of tea and spend 15 minutes checking my email while drinking it. However, I was thrilled when it came as a whole tea pot worth with a pitcher of fresh sweet cream instead of milk. The Cafe itself was very relaxing and quiet, and it made a terrific start to the day.

Market Street in Ulverston

I set out towards Market Street with the intention of visiting all the quaint little shops I had seen. In particular, I wanted to visit this clothing shop with a dress that I had been eyeing for a week. I was hoping the dress was either cheap or would not fit. However, it turned out to be not so cheap (45 quid or 67ish dollars ) and fit perfectly. Of course, I bought it anyway. I couldn't help myself.

As it was almost lunch time, I decided to try the Farmer's Arms at the top of Market Street. They have a quaint little patio out front that looked like the perfect location to eat lunch on a gorgeous sunny day. As I glanced at the menu, I immediatly noticed a Brie, Chicken and cranberry sandwich which was calling my name. When it came, I was not disapointed, as it was glorious. It consisted of a bagette, halved and covered in butter. In the center were giant wedges of brie, moist chicken slices and homemade cranberry sauce. The whole thing was toasted until the baguette was nice and crispy and the brie was gooey and warm. When I get home, I am re-creating it at the next Trifecta dinner and a movie get together. I think I could eat it every day, but with slightly more cranberry sauce.

After a nice nap in the sun, I walked to Booth's to get some supplies for the dinner I had planned. Kevin won 5 pounds of pork in a Pub raffle two weeks earlier (only in England) so I was planning on cooking it with some sort of vegetable (or veg as they say here) and potato. I wandered around the store looking for marinade for the pork, but couldn't find anything -that is until I tried the barbeque aisle where I found Peri-Peri sauce! Peri Peri sauce is a glorious South African braai sauce that they put on everything. Cailin introduced me to it when we were in South Africa and I fell in love. She even was nice enough to buy me a bottle of the extra hot Peri Peri sauce to take home. I haven't used it yet because you can not get the stuff in the US and I don't want to use it all up. So, needless to say I was very VERY excited when I came across it at Booth's. Yet another reason why I love that store! I ended up getting some of my beloved Creme Fraiche to make garlic and chive mashed potatoes (or mash as they would call it here). In addition, I grabbed a package of carrot and parsnip mash to try. They are obsessed with grinding things up (pretty much anything you can smash up goes) and calling it mash. Nevertheless it was delicious!

Make Way for Ducklings

This morning started out with sunny skies and not a cloud in site - a rare thing for Ulverston. I quickly jumped in the shower, only to emerge with dismal, cloudy skies and a bit of drizzle - a normal day. Determined not to let that deter me, I decided to check out the Canal Walk.

Built in the late 1700s, the canal was designed for building boats and trading. A tow path was created along the side of the canal for horses to pull the completed ships out to Morcombe Bay, where they gained access to the ocean. Once the railway was built and the shipping buisness boomed in Barrow (where Kevin is working building ships), the canal stopped being used. GlaxoSmithKline now owns it, but the tow path is still open for foot traffic.

The canal, once used to build ships, is now lined with reeds and is filled with ducks, geese and swans which I saw plenty of.

This Mom and baby ducks thought I was going to feed them and made a bee-line towards me. Unfortunately, all that was waiting them was an eager Norwich terrier.

The canal ends at Morcombe Bay. Across the bay, there is a train bridge that reminds me of the Hogwarts Express from Harry Potter. I kept looking around for Hogwarts, but being a Muggle, I couldn't find it.

For the rest of the pictures, check out the link below

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